LEGO StarCraft Siege Tank: Nugget From The Net

Lego's have to be the worlds most underrated toy. The amount of options and creative outlets that they allow are endless. I used to build Xwings and Ywings before the sets came out, pirate ships that flew and so on. Below are some of my favorite recent Lego related creations.

Acadia Cafe - Review

One of my goals for 2011 has been to widen my horizons. I tend to go the same places, eat the same foods, listening to the same music, watch the same shows. By nature I am a creature of habit. I like the comfort of an establishment where I know the menu and where the wait-staff knows me by name. Perhaps it is a curse left over from working at Cheers. Nonetheless, 2011 is about trying new things.

Over the past few months I have had the pleasure of trying out several new bars, establishments because of their live music. Last night, it was the Acadia Cafe. 

The Acadia Cafe is a small bar/eatery/music venue located on Cedar Ave in Minneapolis. They have solid acoustics, a seemingly well training sound technician and the amount of taps and beer variety you would expect from a thriving Minneapolis location. They have a mostly traditional menu with a few hip twists on old favorites like the cleverly named GLBT. 

The tap selection includes my current favorite, Surly Furious. Their Swiss and Mushroom Burger was somewhat surprisingly cooked exactly as I requested. (Truly medium rare burgers are very hard to find). In keeping with their location and audience, they "hand-patty their burgers fresh each day from humanely grown, all-natural, hormone and antibiotic-free cattle." All nice and good from a feel good stand point but even better they tasted great. I was especially pleased with the onion bun, it really added a excellent touch of flavor. 

The wait-staff was quick and responsive and very focused on the task at hand. Not to a point of rudeness but just enough business-like focus to keep my drink full and my order correct. There was an almost Scandinavian sense of work and focus. Very little nonsense. Except for the dishwasher. From my spot at the bar I could see back into the kitchen and I'll admit that I really didn't need the sight of his pants sagging so low I could venture a decent guess as to his brand of boxers. My gratitude that he avoided the briefs. That said, he and the entire restaurant seemed very clean and did in no way impact my enjoyment of the food. Just his fashion. 

The main reason I went to the Acadia Cafe last night was to see Wasted Education. I have seen them at two different venues now, The Acadia and the well known Turf Club. I'm not sure if it was the acoustics, the sound engineer or simply the band having more time together but last night's performance was vastly superior in terms of sound quality. It's always a challenge to find a correct musical mix in a restaurant, considering all the challenges that come with food prep and service. Kudos to both the band and the establishment for making it eminently listenable last night. 

Overall The Acadia Cafe is an excellent venue to listening to live local original music, have a good beer and well cooked burger. 

Grade B+ (A if you catch the dishwasher's off night!)

X-Men First Class - Fan made title sequence

Like much of my generation, I have been hooked on the X-men for most of my life. The original cartoon in the 90's was absolutely required viewing. I even set the VCR for the special prime time event one summer. I've enjoyed most of the films for what they were, fun pop culture popcorn movies. However, the upcoming prequel seems to offer some deeper subject matter.

In the X-men mythology, Xavier and Magneto are the archetypal characters. Good and Evil. Yet just like Christian theology, they were once partners, in this case even equals. What happened that drove such an incredible wedge between them? What was the ideological break? Set against the reality of the cold war and the Cuban missile crisis, the movie has the opportunity to speak to bigger themes of good vs evil or if there is even such a distinction to be made. 

The video below is a fan made opening sequence for the film. To me it's very well done but seems to be a bit heavy handed. I'm sure the actual opening will be much more modern Hollywood.

What do you think?

X-Men: First Class Title Sequence from Joe D! on Vimeo.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Teams With Stan Lee On New Comic And Cartoon

I firmly believe that creative talent ebbs and flows. Any creative mind or genius has ups and downs. However, it seems that there comes a point when the downs are all that is left. Look at some of Einsteins last work, or anything done by George Lucas since 1990 or any Rolling Stones album of the past 25 years. The well does run drive at some point, its just nature. It happens to everyone.

It's time to finally acknowledge that it has happened to comic great and icon Stan Lee. The man created some of the most memorable and brilliant characters of all time. He had a hand in Spiderman, Fantastic Four, The Xmen, The Avengers, Thor, Daredevil and literally thousands of others. He is on the Mount Rushmore of comic creators.

However, the past decade has been astonishingly bad. If you were to tell me that Stan Lee had been abducted and replaced by his evil mentally challenged twin, I would gladly believe you. It seems inconceivable that the same mind that helped to build most of the Marvel Universe is also responsible for Stripperella, Ringo as a super hero and now some ill conceived project with the Governator.

Please Stan, just stop. Don't let people know you as the reality show shill and cameo creep. It overshadows the really impressive and worthwhile previous years of genius.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Teams With Stan Lee On New Comic And Cartoon

Movie Review: Superman/Shazam Return of Black Adam *Spoilers*

One of the biggest challenges as a movie fan is that it seems that often the marketing wing of a studio has no idea what a movie is about, so they just punt on the trailer, title etc. Superman/Shazam is a perfect example. What I completely missed is that on Netflix instant watch at least, it is actually a compilation of shorts about some of the coolest, underutilized characters in the DC universe. But the title and cover made me think it was a full Superman/Shazam movie. .

Due to this fact, it sat unloved on my cue for months. I'm not a huge Shazam/Captain Marvel fan. I think the introduction of "magic" as another Superman vulnerability smacks of writer desperation and the boy becomes superhuman with a word gimmick doesn't seem to work on a large scale. This is why I think that Captain Marvel, despite his obvious name issues, has historically been a mostly forgotten and underutilized character.

If the title of this film was DC Showcase: Forgotten Heros or even DC Showcase: Characters you really don't know, then I think it would have moved up my Netflix cue much faster. There are four separate shorts starring, Superman/Shazam, The Spectre, Green Arrow and Jonah Hex. The voice cast and art for each of the shorts is superb.

Each of these characters honestly couldn't carry an entire film (see Jonah Hex) but in a short, they shine. Superman/Shazam is passable, The Spectre is appropriately creepy, Green Arrow lasts just long enough for the character to be enjoyed but the holes not to show and Jonah Hex is a nice easy cowboy revenge story that doesn't need to waste time with details or character development.

If you're a fan of DC Comics or any of the animated series created or produced by Bruce Timm, I highly recommend giving this compilation a shot. Don't be fooled by the complete failure of the marketing department, there is value here beyond the tagline.

Grade: B+

Movie Review: From Paris with Love

Action movies are a interesting genre. The audience expects to be entertained, surprised, and amused. However, each movie treads a very thin line between worthwhile and worthless. At best an action movie can feel like a roller coaster of explosions, wisecracks and clever ways for bad guys to die. At worst it can seem disjointed, overly full of itself, packed with lame jokes and seemingly pasted together. From Paris with Love is a perfect example of both the highs and lows.

The Jonathan Rhys Meyers/John Travolta 2010 action flick has some very well scripted and shot action sequences. The rest is pretty much bunk. Rhys Meyers plays an ambassador's aide, James Reece, who also is evidentially a low level black operations agent. His main contact is a disembodied voice on the phone who Reece seems to blindly trust without giving the audience any reason to the he should. Travolta, playing a American spook stereotype and looking a bit like Mr. Clean's evil twin, is dropped into the movie as the main source of conflict and action. He kills without remorse, he cracks jokes, he makes Reece take drugs and wreaks general havoc on Paris. The first 40 minutes feel painfully like a forced overacted version of Training Day.

As a viewer, I kept waiting for the twist, the big bad guy reveal or the double cross. When it finally comes, in the form of Reece's fiancee, it seems completely out of context and laughable. In an attempt to shock the audience the move comes off nothing more than that. From that point on Travolta changes from lunatic to mentor and the second half of the movie feels entirely different from the first. The film hits rock bottom with a scene that clearly was added to the script once Travolta signed on. After a shoot out and the killing of several supposed terrorists, the two main characters share a heart to heart moment about killing and their work while Travolta eats and references his "royale with cheese". I kid you not.

As Redbox or Netflix rental, the action sequences and the overacting by Travolta are almost worth it. However with the sheer number of action movies available, I highly recommend finding another option. Michael Caine's Get Carter is a classic that show an action movie can be a true thrill ride without being just plain asinine. A much better option in my opinion.

Grade: C.

The Three Musketeers - Paul W.S. Anderson

I so badly want to love this movie. Dumas is arguably my favorite French writer. I love story of The Three Musketeers. I really like much of the cast, Milla Jovovich, Ray Stevenson, Matthew Macfadyen, Christoph Waltz. It seems like they are playing with the story a bit, adding a bit more over the top themes (flying ships anyone?). I'm 90% of the way hooked and then the title screen pops up....

3D. Really? That's just pandering. Even my two children are tired of 3D. Ugh.

That said, my devotion to Alexandre will probably have me in line opening night. Even with the ridiculous prices and glasses.